Enjoy Today!!

How may we enjoy this day? This enjoyment will never come by trying to be happy, and yet there are conditions which, if met, will produce real joy.

1. Be right with God, for gladness is sown for the upright in heart (Psalm 97:11). It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy full.

2. Forget yourself and live for others, for It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

3. When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances or conditions, rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 4:4), and count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations (James 1:2).

4. Finally, obey the Lord and be faithful to your trust, and again and again His blessed Spirit will whisper to your heart, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21).

[A.B. Simpson]

2 Timothy 2:1 ... Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Lamentations 3:22-23 ... It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.   They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Psalm 118:24 ... This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.❤

Only One Way

God does not have two ways for any of us, but one. Not two things for us to do which we may choose between, but one best and highest choice. It is a blessed thing to find and fill the perfect will of God. It is a blessed thing to have our life laid out and our Christian work adjusted to God’s plan.

Much strength is lost by working at a venture. Much spiritual force can be expended in wasted effort and in scattered, indefinite and inconstant attempts at doing good. There is spiritual force and financial strength enough in the hands and hearts of the consecrated Christians of today, if it were only wisely directed and used according to God’s plan, to bring about the evangelization of the world in a generation.

Christ has laid down a definite plan of work for His Church, and He expects us to understand it and to work up to it. As we catch His thought and obediently, loyally fulfill it, we shall work with purpose. In so doing we please Him far better than by our thoughtless, reckless and indiscriminate attempts to carry out our ideas and compel God to bless our work.

[A.B. Simpson]

Philippians 2:13 ... For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

John 15:2 ... Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

John 15:5 ... I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Proverbs 16:9 ... A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. ❤

The Divine Life

Such was God’s promise to Moses, and such the high character that Moses was to assume toward Aaron, his brother. Does it not suggest a high and glorious place that each of us may occupy toward all whom we meet, instead of God?

What a dignity and glory it would give our lives, could we uniformly realize this high calling! What a difference it would make in our actions toward our fellow men! God can always be depended upon. He is without variation. God’s Word is unchangeable, and we can trust Him without reserve or question. May we so live that men can trust us, even as they trust God!

Again, God has no needs or wants to be supplied. He is always giving, rich unto all that call upon him. The glory of His nature is love-unselfish love-and beneficence toward all His creatures. The divine life is a self-forgetting life, a life that has nothing to do but love and bless.

Let us so live, representing our Master here, while He represents us before the Throne on high.

[A.B. Simpson]

Exodus 4:16 ... And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

Jeremiah 32:40 ... And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

Romans 10:12 ... For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.❤

How The Days Are Passing

A Jewish man was asked how it was that his countrymen were so successful in acquiring wealth. “Ah,” said he, “we do not make more money than other people, but we keep more.” Beloved, let us be on guard this day against spiritual pickpockets and spiritual leakage. Let us lose not those things which we have wrought. Let us be sure we receive a full reward. As each day comes and goes, let us deposit in the savings bank of eternity its treasures of grace and victory, being conscious that something real and everlasting is being added daily to our eternal fortune.

It may be but a little, but if we can save all that God gives us and pass it on to His keeping, when the end of all things comes, we shall be amazed to see how much the accumulated treasures of a well-spent life have laid up on high. We shall see how much more God has added to them by His glorious investment of the life committed to His keeping.

How the days are passing! How precious these golden hours will seem sometime! God help us to make the most of them now.

[A. B. Simpson]

2 John 8 ... Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Matthew 6:34 ... Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Jude 21 ... Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.❤

A Definite Act

It is purely a matter of faith. Faith and sight always differ. To your senses it does not seem to be so, but your faith must still reckon it so. This is a very difficult attitude to hold, and only as we thoroughly believe God can we thus reckon upon His Word and His working. But as we do so, faith will convert it into fact, and it will become reality.

These two words “yield” and “reckon” are passwords into the resurrection life. They are like the two edges of the “Sword of the Spirit” through which we enter into crucifixion with Christ.

This act of surrender and this reckoning of faith are recognized in the New Testament as marking a very definite crisis in the spiritual life. It does not mean that we are expected to be going through a continual dying, but that there should be one very definite act of dying, and then a constant habit of reckoning ourselves as dead and meeting everything from this standpoint.

[A. B. Simpson]

Romans 6:6 ... Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Romans 6:11 ...  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:13 ... Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 8:18 ... For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ❤

Whatever Comes My Way

Physical force is stored in the inner parts of the earth, in the coal mines and the oil deposits. So spiritual force is stored in the depths of our being, through the very pressures we cannot understand. Some day we will find that the deliverances we have won from these trials were preparing us to become true “Great Hearts” in life’s Pilgrim’s Progress, enabling us to lead our fellow pilgrims triumphantly through trial to the City of the King.

But let us never forget that the means of helping other people must be through victorious suffering. Whining and murmuring never do anybody any good. Paul did not carry a cemetery with him but a chorus choir of victorious praise. The harder the trial, the more he trusted and rejoiced, shouting from the very altar of sacrifice, Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.  Lord, help me this day to draw strength from all that comes to me.

[A. B. Simpson]

Psalm 1:3 ...  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Philippians 2:17 ... Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.

1 Chronicles 26:27 ... Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord. ❤

One Goal

What is the supreme purpose of our lives? The Israelites were of one heart to make David king. Is this our purpose, to prepare the Bride, to prepare the world, to prepare His way?

Does this objective dwarf and dim all other ambitions, all other cares?

Does it fill and satisfy every capacity, every power, every desire?

Does it absorb every moment, every energy, every resource?

Does it give direction and tone to every plan and work of life?

Does it decide for us the education of our children, the investment of our means, the friendships and associations of life, the whole activity, interest and outlook of our beings?

Are we in it, spirit, soul and body-all we are, all we do, all we hope for-of one heart to make Jesus King?

[A. B. Simpson]

1 Chronicles 12:38 ... All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

Acts 2:1 ...  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Philippians 2:2 ... Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.❤

My Grace is Sufficient

God allowed the crisis that closed around Jacob, on the night when he bowed at Peniel in supplication, to bring him to the place where he could take hold of God as he never would have done. From that narrow pass of peril Jacob came, enlarged in his faith and knowledge of God and in the power of a new and victorious life.

God had to compel David, by a long and painful discipline of years, to learn the almighty power and faithfulness of his God, and to grow up into the established principles of faith and godliness which were indispensable for his subsequent and glorious career as the king of Israel.

Nothing but the extremities in which Paul was constantly placed could ever have taught him, and taught the Church through him, the full meaning of the great promise he so learned to claim, My grace is sufficient for thee. And nothing but our trials and perils would ever have led some of us to know Him as we do, to trust Him as we have and to draw from Him the measures of grace which our very extremities made indispensable.

[A. B. Simpson]

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Joel 3:10 ... Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ... And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.


James 4:6 ... But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.❤

I Was There!

How must God feel when we disappoint Him after He has given us His heart’s blood, put so many advantages in our way and expended upon us so much grace and care. it makes the spirit cry, “Who is sufficient for these things?”

In my mind’s eye I can see before me the time when we shall stand on heaven’s shore and look back upon the years that have been, these few short years of time. May we cast ourselves at Jesus’ feet and say: “Many a time have I faltered; many a hard fight has come, but Thou hast kept me and held me, thanks to God, who has given me the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Fresh from the battlefields a little band of veterans Came forth. To each was given a medal with the names of their battles on one side, and on the other side this little sentence, “I was there.” Oh, when that hour shall come, may it be a supremely happy thought to look back over the trials and sacrifices of these days and remember, “I was there, and by the help of God and the grace of Jesus, I am here.”

[A. B. Simpson]

1 Corinthians 15:10 ... But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

1 Corinthians 15:57 ... But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 4:7 ... I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:❤

Two Great Promises

The Bible has always held out two great promises respecting Christ. First, He will come to us. Second, He will come into us.

For four thousand years the world looked forward to the fulfillment of the first promise. The other is the secret which Paul says hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. This is just as great a revelation of God as the incarnation of Jesus, for it makes us like Christ, as free from sin as He is.

If Christ is in us, what will be the consequences? Why, He will put us aside entirely. The I in us will go. We will say, “Not I, but Christ.” Christ undertakes our battles for us. Christ becomes purity and grace and strength in us.

We do not try to attain these things; we have obtained them in Jesus. This brings glorious rest with the Master. Jesus does not say, “Now we must bring forth fruit, we must pray much, we must do this or that.” There is no constraint about it, except that we must abide in Him.

That is the center of all joy and help.

[A. B. Simpson]

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John 14:23 ... Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Colossians 1:26-27 ... Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:❤

He Stays With Us

God’s presence blends with every other thought and consciousness, flowing sweetly and evenly through our business plans, our social interactions, our hearts’ affections, our manual toll, our entire lives. Like the fragrance of a flower or the presence of a friend consciously near, and yet not hindering in the least the most intense and constant preoccupation of the hands and brain, so God consecrates all and is conscious through all.

How beautiful the established habit of this unceasing communion and dependence amid and above all thoughts and occupations! How lovely to see a dear old saint folding away his books at night and humbly saying, “Lord Jesus, things are still just the same between us” and then falling asleep in His keeping.

So let us be stayed upon Him. Let us grow into Him with all the roots and fibers of our beings. He will not get tired of our friendship. He will not want to put us off sometimes. Beautiful words of the suffering saint: For He never says goodbye. He stays. So let us be stayed on Him.

[A. B. Simpson]

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Jeremiah 49:8 ... Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.

Isaiah 41:10 ... Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Hebrews 13:5 ... Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.❤

Always With You

Oh, how it helps and comforts us in the plodding of life to know that we have with us the Christ who spent the first thirty years of His life swinging a hammer in the carpenter shop at Nazareth, covered with sweat and grimy dust, physically weary as we often are, and able to understand all our experiences of drudgery and labor! Moreover, He still loves to share our common tasks and equip us for our difficult undertakings of hand and brain.

Yes, housewife, He will help you at the kitchen range and sink as gladly as at the hour of prayer. Yes, busy laborer, He will go with you and help you to swing the hammer, or handle the saw, or hold the plow in the soil of life. You will be a better mechanic, a more skilled workman, a more successful man because you take His wisdom for the common affairs of life.

There is no place or time where Jesus is not able and willing to walk by our side, to work through our hand and minds, and to unite Himself in loving and caring partnership with all our needs and tasks and trials. In this way He proves Himself our all-sufficiency for all things.

[A. B. Simpson]

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Deuteronomy 31:6 ... Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Matthew 28:20 ... Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Hebrews 13:5 ... Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.❤

The Bridegroom and His Church

The blessed Holy Spirit who possesses the consecrated heart is intensely concerned for our highest life and watches us with a sensitive and even a jealous love.  Very beautiful is the true translation of that ordinary passage in James 4:5, The Spirit that dwelleth in us loveth us to jealousy.  The heart of the Holy Spirit is deeply concerned in preserving us from every stain and blemish and in bringing us into the very highest possibilities of the will of God.

The heavenly Bridegroom would have His Church not only free from every spot, but also from every wrinkle, or any such thing. The spot is the mark of sin, but the wrinkle is the sign of weakness, age and decay; Jesus wants no such defacing touch upon the holy features of His beloved. So the Holy Spirit, who is the Executor of His will and the Divine Messenger whom He sends to call, separate and bring home His Bride, is jealously concerned in fulfilling in us all the Master’s will.

Lord, take from me every blemish and mark of weakness and decay and make me Thy spotless Bride.

[A. B. Simpson]

Ephesians 5:27 ... That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 🕊

The Rival of Jesus Christ

Your Christian influence, your reputation as a worker for God and your standing among your brethren may be an idol to which you must die before you can be free to live for Jesus alone.

If you have ever noticed the type on a printed page, you must have seen that the little “i” always has a dot over it. It is that dot that elevates it above the other letters in the line.

Now, each of us is a little i, and over every one of us there is a little dot of self-importance, self-will, self-interest, self-confidence, self-complacency-or something to which we cling and for which we contend. But it just as surely reveals self-life as if it were a mountain of real importance.

This i is a rival of Jesus Christ. It is the enemy of the Holy Spirit and of our peace and life. God has therefore decreed its death, and the Holy Spirit, with His flaming sword, is waiting to destroy it that we may be able to enter through the gates and come to the Tree of Life.

[A. B. Simpson]

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2 Corinthians 4:5 ... For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

John 3:30 ... He must increase, but I must decrease.

Galatians 6:14 ... But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.❤

The Holy Spirit is Our Guide

The blessed Holy Spirit is our Guide, our Leader and our Resting-place. There are times when He presses us forward into prayer, into service, into suffering, into new experiences, new duties, new claims of faith and hope and love. Then there are times when He arrests us in our activity and rests us in the secret place of the Most High. He teaches us some new lessons, breathing into us some deeper strength or fullness and then leading us on again, at His bidding alone.

The Holy Spirit is the true Guide of the saint, and the true Leader of the Church. He is our wonderful Counselor, our unerring Friend. He who would deny the personal guidance of the Holy Spirit in order that he might honor the Word of God as our only guide must dishonor that other word of promise, that His sheep shall know His voice, and that His listening and obedient children shall hear a voice behind them saying, this is the way, walk ye in it.

[A.B. Simpson]

Isaiah 30:21 ... And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Romans 8:14 ... For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

John 16:13 ... Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.🕊

Watch!

A young woman whose parents had died while she was an infant had been cared for by a friend of the family. Before she was old enough to know him he went to Europe. Through all his years of absence he wrote regularly to her and never failed to send her money for all her wants.

 

Finally word came that during a certain week he would return and visit her. He did not fix the day or the hour. During that week the young woman received several invitations to take pleasant trips with her friends. one of these sounded so exciting that she could not resist accepting it. But during her trip her benefactor came, inquired as to her absence and left. Returning she found a note:

“My life,” the note said, “has been a struggle for you; might you not have waited one week for me?”

More she never heard, and her life of plenty became one of want.

 

Jesus has not fixed the day or hour of His return but He has said, Watch. Should He come today, would He find us absorbed in thoughtless dissipation? May we be found each day in the expectant attitude of those watching for a loved one.

 

[A.B. Simpson]

 

 

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Matthew 26:40 ... And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?


 

Matthew 25:13 ... Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.


Luke 21:36 ... Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.❤

I Will Trust

There is a natural law of sin and sickness. If we just sink into the trend of circumstances we shall go down and sink under the power of the tempter. But there is another law of spiritual life and physical life in Christ Jesus to which we can rise and through which we can counterbalance and overcome the law that bears us down. But to do this requires real spiritual energy, fixed purpose and a settled posture and habit of faith.

In the factory that relies on a single source of mechanical power, it is necessary to engage the belt that turns the central shaft and keep it engaged. The power is there, but only if the connection is maintained is it usable power to operate the machinery.

There is a spiritual law of choosing, believing, abiding and holding steady in our walk with God that is essential to the working of the Holy Spirit either in our sanctification or healing.

There is a word that saves the soul, "I will trust;"

It makes the sick and suffering whole, "I will trust."

[A. B. Simpson]

Romans 8:2 ... For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Proverbs 3:5 ... Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Psalm 18:2 ... The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.❤

Above All

Christ rises above all things. We see Him in the very act of ascending, as we do not in the actual resurrection. With hands and lips engaged in blessing, He gently parts from His disciples. So simply, so unostentatiously, He has brought heaven near to our common life.

We, too, must ascend, even here. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above (Colossians 3:1). We must learn to live on the heavenly side and look at things from above.

To contemplate all things as God sees them, as Christ beholds them, overcomes sin, defies Satan, dissolves perplexities, lifts us above trials, separates us from the world and conquers fear of death. Such a perspective enables us to view them as we shall one day look back upon them from His glory, and as if we were now really seated with Him, as indeed we are, in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).

Let us arise with His resurrection and, in fellowship with His glorious ascension, learn to live above.

[A.B. Simpson]

Ephesians 1:20-21 ... Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

John 17:2 ... As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

John 3:31 ... He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

Colossians 1:16 ... For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Ephesians 4:6 ... One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.❤

Walk in Righteousness

If we walk in righteousness He will carry us through.

[A. B. Simpson]

Psalm 15:1-2 ... Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?  He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

1 Peter 3:13-14 ... And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

Isaiah 33:15-16 ... He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;   He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.❤

In The Cleft

The dove is in the cleft of the rock, the riven side of our Lord. There is comfort and security there. It is also in the secret places of the stairs. It loves to build its nest in the high towers to which men mount by winding stairs for hundreds of feet above the ground. What a glorious vision is there obtained of the surrounding scenery. It is a picture of ascending life. To reach our highest altitudes we must find the secret places of the stairs. That is the only way to rise above the natural plane.
 

 

Our lives should be ones of quiet mounting with occasional resting places; but we should be mounting higher, step by step. Not everyone finds this way of secret ascent. It is only for God's chosen. The world may think we are going down. We may not have as much public work to do as formerly. It is a secret, hidden life. We may be hardly aware that we are growing, until one day a test comes and we find we are established. Have you arrived at the place where Christ is keeping you from willful disobedience? Does the consciousness of sin make you shudder? Are you lifted above the world?

 

[A.B. Simpson]

 

 

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Matthew 5:3 ... Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

 

Exodus 33:21-22 ... And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

 

 

 

Song of Solomon 2:14 ... O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

 

 

Psalm 32:7 ... Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.❤